Leadership Team and Board of Directors

Leadership

Paula has been leading the agency since April 2016. Paula also served as HAWC’s Interim Executive Director in 2013. Paula is a tested leader specializing in non-profit capacity building. Between 2003 and 2007, Paula served as Executive Director of ETC Development Corporation, a $14 million developer and manager of affordable housing. With more than 27 years of non-profit leadership experience, Paula has led agencies including the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom-US and MassEquality. She was an Interim Executive and Transition Consultant with Third Sector New England for eight years. She is also a certified capacity-building consultant with Neighborworks America. Paula holds a B.A. in Labor Relations from McGill University and an MBA in Finance from Northeastern University.

Sara joined HAWC in June 2015 as Attorney Director of Legal Programs and was promoted to Deputy Director in August 2017. In this role, Sara is responsible for day-to-day leadership for the agency, working in close partnership with the Executive Director. In addition to this work, Sara coordinates legal programs, legal advocacy, pro bono clinics, and law student internships. She also continues to represent a limited number of high-risk cases. Previously, Sara worked as an attorney at many firms, served as a pro bono attorney with the Women’s Bar Foundation, and volunteered at Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center. The role at HAWC truly merged her interest in the intersection of domestic violence and the law. Sara obtained her legal degree from Suffolk University School of Law in 2007.

As a member of the agency’s leadership team, Gloria supervises all advocates, supporting the effectiveness and improvement of services agency-wide. Gloria joined HAWC in 2014 working as a Family Advocate in the shelter with a caseload of shelter clients while she also managed the agency’s children’s program for children staying in the shelter. In March 2015, Gloria was promoted to Shelter Coordinator. In this role, she oversaw more of the shelter’s day to day activities as well as supervising the shelter advocates. Gloria was promoted to Shelter Director in July 2015 and Program Director in December 2016. Gloria’s prior work experiences stem from doing senior case management in transitional housing for both male and female state inmates. She worked closely with the overall reintegration of individuals back into the community, including areas of housing, employment, schooling, and family ties. Gloria graduated from Rutgers University School of Social Work with a Master’s Degree in Social Work in 2011 and is working towards obtaining her LCSW, expected in January 2017.

Kristin joined HAWC in November 2015 and is responsible for month end closing, including accruals, general ledger auditing and reconciliation and positing of month end adjusting entries; all A/P functions including invoice receipt and entry into Bill.com and Quick books, weekly check runs and statement reconciliations; AR functions including billing Federal and State grants, posting of customer payments and daily banking entries, ACH and EFT payments; monthly bank and loan reconciliations; payroll processing through ADP for HAWC employees; and company benefits management including health, dental, FSA and 401K. Previously, Kristin was the Staff Accountant for Stahl, USA, and Financial Assistant at Beverly Bootstraps. Kristin received a B.S. in Business from the University of South Florida.

Vika has been working at HAWC since November 2003. Vika has held many roles at the agency including Data Analyst, Data and IT Manager. In 2012, Vika was promoted to her current role as Director of Operations. Vika has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Science, and Engineering and was previously an instructor of Physics, Science, and Information Technology at one of the leading schools in the Ukraine. Vika’s versatile education and experience has had a tremendous impact on HAWC’s technology infrastructure, making the agency one of the region’s leading organizations in the area of data collection.

Board

HAWC thanks the talented members of our board, who strengthen HAWC’s presence in the local community with generosity and skill.